Brock University Students’ Union
BUSU ratified Club Constitution
CONSTITUTION FOR ART CLUB 2013/14
Article 1 – Name
The club’s official name will be “Art Club 2013/14”. No other name will be
used in the advertisement or representation of the club.
This article is pretty self-explanatory. You must define the exact name of
your club that will be used in all official capacities.
Article 2 – Purpose for the club’s existence
1.
Encourage Fine/ Digital/ Performance art awareness.
2.
To enhance, enrich and foster club member’s exposure to art and
creativity through field trips, student exhibitions, and studio time.
3.
Increase VISA department presence at Brock University.
4. We wish to encourage our members, as present and future artist, to take an
active role in the arts and culture community in any setting, be it here in St.
Catharines or somewhere else, and to build their artist resume.
By no means are you limited to only three purpose statements, of course, but
we would like a few points outlined describing the goals and planned purpose
of your club. Try not to define your club too broadly or too narrowly. By this
we mean that you should not simply say that: “We want to get students
together to have a good time.” While this is no doubt a laudable goal, it is
much too broad a mandate for us to ratify. Your club needs a more specific
reason for existing, but try not to define your club with such focused precision
that you leave no room for growth and different ideas to emerge. What we
tend to recommend is that you give a good but more general outline of your
club’s purpose here, and then really define your thoughts and ideas in the
cover letter that you will be submitting to us on the Clubs Policy Committee.
When it comes to your clubs’ purpose and mandate, we will hold you to, and
sometimes constrain you to, what is written in your constitution, but we will
not hold you to the contents of your cover letter.
Article 3 – Membership
1.
2.
3.
Membership is open to everyone.
Only students at Brock University are eligible to hold voting privileges
and executive positions.
Associate non-voting members shall be allowed.
As it is defined by Item#1, club membership will be made open to
everyone. No club may explicitly or implicitly seek to limit their
membership in any way, shape or form without explicit consent from
the Clubs Policy Committee. The CPC will not permit clubs to restrict
their membership unless such a restriction is necessary such that the
essence of the club would be otherwise undermined. The onus is on the
club to demonstrate that such a restriction is required. As for Item#2,
this is a University and not the community at large, and as such we
require clubs to restrict executive privileges and voting rights to
current Brock University students only. Through, as per Item#3, a club
is permitted to take in associate members from the community if they
so desire.
Article 4 – Executive
1.
The executive committee shall consist of:
a)
b)
c)
President
Vice-President/Secretary
Treasurer
You are not restricted to an executive consisting of only these positions
listed here, but these positions represent the minimum requirements.
It is highly recommended to separate out the positions of secretary and
Vice-President if you so desire. However, don’t add extra positions just
for the sake of it. See what positions you can consolidate and merge. A
small, efficient executive can get things done better than a large
cumbersome bureaucracy.
Article 5 – Duties of the Executive
President
 Will oversee the other members of the executive in their duties
 Will chair all meetings
 Will have signing authority for the club
Vice-President
 Will assist the President in his/her duties


Will assume all powers of the President in his/her absence
Will be responsible for recording the minutes of all meetings
Treasurer
 Will be responsible for all financial dealings of the club
 Will keep complete records of all financial dealings of the club
 Will have signing authority for the club
The above duties represent the minimum duties required of each executive in
order to see a club run smoothly. You may add duties as you see fit and of
course if you have added further executive positions, you will have to define
duties for each new position.
Article 6 – Finances
1.
A membership fee will be set by the executive annually.
Don’t define how much you’ll charge in your constitution – it’ll limit you later
when you simply want to raise the annual fee and have to go through a whole
constitutional amendment process just to do so. Instead, just say that you’ll
be collecting a fee, period, and this fee will be determined by the executive.
Article 7 – Meetings
1.
At least three general meetings shall be held during the school year,
including the Annual General Meeting.
2.
Members will be informed of each of these meetings at least seven days
in advance.
These are minimum requirements. Don’t bother to get more ambitious
than this and say you’ll hold umpteen billion meetings per year,
because then you’ll have to. Just give us the above-stated minimum
that you’ll need to hold, and try to hold more as time and scheduling
permits.
Article 8 – Elections
1. All election procedures will abide by the policies set out in Bylaw 2550 –
The Clubs Bylaw.
This is all you need to say for your executive election procedures. If
you want to know the current requirements for executive election
procedures, please see Resolution Four, Part Seven. If you wish to do
so, you may copy all elections procedures from that section of
Resolution Four into this section of your constitution and change the
above article to read something like: 1. All election procedures will
abide by the policies set out in Bylaw 2550 – The Clubs Bylaw, as
follows: (insert election procedures here).
Article 9 – Amendments
1.
Amendments to the constitution must win a two-thirds majority vote of
members present.
2.
Amendments to the constitution must be approved by the Clubs Policy
Committee, which must be presented with a typed copy of the proposed
amendment as well as typed minutes from the meeting when the
amendment was passed in order to prove that this amendment was
adopted.
These are the precise requirements, so don’t modify them beyond what
is stated above.
Article 10 – Impeachment
1.
Any member of the club who commits an act negatively affecting the
interests of the club and its members may be given notice of
impeachment.
2.
3.
The impeached individual will have the right to defend his/her actions.
A two-thirds majority vote of members present will result in the removal
of the impeached individual from the club and the loss of any privileges
associated with the club.
It is best to include impeachment procedures such as those outlined
above. You’ll probably never use the impeachment procedures, but
should it become necessary to impeach, you’ll be glad you included this
part in the constitution.
Article 11 – Agency Clause
1.
The Art Club 2013/14 is not an agent of the University Students’ Council
and its views and actions do not represent those of the University
Students’ Council.
This is required exactly as stated above.